Premier Guitar: Thanks for visiting us in Frankfurt!

“Germany’s Ampete showed off two new amps at Musikmesse 2014: Ampete One is a Marshall-derived, EL34-driven, dual-channel 100-watter with lots of extras: two boost modes, which generate eight possible characters from the two channels; a “speed” switch providing three bass responses ranging from tight to loose; presence and “deep” controls; and both MIDI and footswitch control. Ampete also debuted a prototype of Ampete Two, a relatively stripped-down, Vox-flavored EL84 head with a unique “Bone” switch offering three preset boost/tone combinations. (Boost + tone = bone. Get it?) Killer feature: A great-sounding power control that dials you down from a loud 20 watts to a whisper-quiet single watt with surprisingly little loss of sound quality.”